Change Hurts
by rebeldon117
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki has lived his entire life as an outcast in his own home. When new forces begin fighting to shape his outlook of the world he must make choices that have the potential to change the course of history. Smart/strong naruto


Worst Day ever

It was the evening of October tenth and the entire Hidden Leaf Village was ablaze with flickering candle lights and soaked in the sounds of laughter and song as the villagers celebrated the fifth anniversary of the day when the Yondaime Hokage gave his life to stop the dreaded Kyuubi. It was a day to remember those lost and honor their memory in the morning and rejoice at the village's survival in the evening.

To all who dwelt within the Hidden Leaf's walls the celebration was one of the most festive of the year, marked with fireworks, parades and stalls with food and games. It was a day when everyone in the village rejoiced for the fact that they had endured that darkest of days and a time to remember those lost.

Unfortunately many felt the day was not to be one for joy, but for vengeance instead. They saw it as a time to let loose their pain and anger on the one individual that they could use as a scapegoat for their hatred.

And so there became another tradition on the day of October the tenth, one that had a frighteningly large following.

The great fox hunt had begun.

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Naruto Uzumaki wasn't one of the brightest children in the village. He had trouble grasping simple matters of cause and effect. One such example was the villager's treatment of him.

Naruto's five year old mind was unable to piece together the reason that people tried, and more often than not succeeded, to hurt him.

He remembered that it wasn't as bad last year when he was still at the orphanage until he apparently did something wrong which made the headmistress start hitting him and keep screaming about bringing back her dead husband.

Being four, Naruto couldn't understand what was going on and had only cried until she stopped enough for him to run away to the old man who promptly found him a nice vacant apartment to live in where he had stayed for the past year.

Despite all the different signs telling him to stay away from the villagers a foolish little part of him believed that if he was good enough and didn't break any rules no one would hurt him.

Which is why, when he peeked out his window and saw a child clutching a stuffed fox doll he quickly decided that he had to have one like it and hastily grabbed a his wallet, Gama-chan, from under his bed.

He raced out of his small apartment completely forgetting, or not caring enough, to wear something to hide his identity.

It didn't take long to reach the main street where most of the festivities were being held and for a moment Naruto was paralyzed by the beauty before him. All around were delicately folded origami lanterns in every shade of red and orange imaginable swaying gently in the cool night breeze.

All around were people meandering about happily as children ran to and fro pointing up at stands and tugging parent's pant legs in squeals of delight. The sound of laughter and chit-chat filled the air, only just barley covering up the sweet sound of music playing from what sounded like everywhere.

Naruto stayed paralyzed for only a moment however for he soon found a stall that had the item he was searching for. Clutching Gama-chan tightly, Naruto hurried over to the stall and got in line behind a young girl and what looked like her father.

"Here you go darling" the stall owner said as he handed the young girl a stuffed animal with one hand and accepted money from the father in the other.

The little girl hugged it tightly to her chest before she looked up him and smiled. "Thanks mister." She said before she and her father turned to leave.

The stall owner put the money in the register with a ding before he looked around for his next customer only to see a small frog wallet bouncing up and down at the edge of the stand. "Hello there youngin what might I get ya?" he asked before a hand shot up and pointed to a stuffed Kyuubi doll hanging from a rack.

The stall owner reach up and grabbed the doll as he leaned over to hand it to the child "all righty that'll be 13 ryo little..." he stopped mid-sentence as he finally saw who it was in front of him.

Smiling up at him and holding out a twenty ryo note was the unmistakable visage of the Uzumaki boy no doubt about it, the blond hair, the blue eyes and those whisker marks on his cheeks. Why just looking at him reminded the man of that horrible monster.

Quickly taking both the money and the doll back the old man shut the wooden cover of his stall and yelled out to the child as loud as he could "we don't serve your kind here MONSTER!"

For a few moments all the chatting and conversing stopped leaving only the increasingly eerie sound of music in the air as every single eye fixed itself on young Naruto.

The silence didn't last long as men began to slowly converge on him from the edges of the crowd, circling him like hungry predators cornering their prey.

Naruto was suddenly aware of what might be happening soon and so decided that it was time for him to make his departure. As he slowly started backing away from the still forming mob he caught sight of the first fireworks explode in the sky just as a bottle sailed from the crowd and into his head.

Like the starting gun at a race track the two events signaled the charge as both Naruto and his pursuers raced down the nearest alleyway, one trying to evade and the rest ready to hunt.

Naruto was weaving between clotheslines and jumping over trashcans, with a surprising amount of skill considering his age, when a large glob of blood from his bottle wound dripped into his right eye and blinded him momentarily, making him miss a stray rock and trip.

As he tried to get back up to his feet and continue his escape a large foot smashed into his left flank and sent him recoiling as the air left his tiny body. Before he managed to uncurl himself and stand back up however, another kick slammed into his spine, sending waves of pain through his body. Soon Naruto could feel a barrage of blows impacting his body from all possible angles though he was beginning to find the mounting pain made it difficult to discern where they were coming from.

Naruto could vaguely hear cries of 'die demon' and 'bastard fox' punctuating the blows but as another few impacted his head he began to have trouble staying conscious. When his vision began getting watery and blurry he thought he was about to pass out but then managed to notice that droplets of water were staining his eyes and the rest of his body as the sky above him let loose a deluge.

The sudden downpour came as a double edged sword to young Naruto in that while it was now soaking him and chilling him to the bone; it had also convinced the men beating him to go inside, finally letting him rest.

Soon puddles began to accumulate around him until they finally managed to cover the entire alley way he was in. He looked into the puddle and saw that his blonde hair was streaked with mud and dirt giving it an almost brown appearance. His face was badly bruised and a small trail of blood trickled down from his forehead over his now shut right eye. His left eye was beginning to shut but he managed to see a sliver of blue underneath the bruised flesh before it shut and he was wrapped in darkness.

He didn't know why they did it and he didn't know why no one ever tried to help him. He wondered what made him so much different than all the other children in the village and what made all the people hate him so much.

As he thought all this he couldn't help but start crying as the rain fell around him. He wanted someone to be nice to him. He wanted someone to be kind to him, but he knew all he would ever get from the people here was pain.

When downpour continued for a few minutes without letting up he started shivering and he could tell that the cold was goanna kill him if he didn't move. Try as he might though his every action was met with a torrent of pain from his body and finally stopped fighting.

For a moment Naruto lay there on the ground; the shivering of his body gradually weakening just as he was, before he felt someone picking him up and rocking him gently back and forth. For a moment the wave of pain coursed through him as he tried to move but it was soon overpowered by a feeling of warmth and softness as he felt himself being wrapped in some kind of blanket.

As he tried to open his eyes to see what was going on he was stopped by a soothing feminine voice and the feeling of a hand on his forehead "**Be still now little kit. You have endured much today and now is the time for rest not answers. Sleep now and tomorrow your wounds will be gone and you shall forget that we had this meeting."**

Before Naruto had a chance to even ponder what the mysterious woman meant he suddenly felt his consciousness slip from his as he fell asleep.

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Naruto Uzumaki awoke the next morning feeling oddly refreshed and devoid of the pain he had expected to feel after almost being beaten to death the night before. When he opened his eyes he was happy to be able to see out of both of them without difficulty or pain.

He looked around and saw that there were more than the typical amount of blood stains on the ground around him for one of his beatings but then again last night had been more savage.

As Naruto stood up he felt something slip off his back and barley managed to grab it before it fell onto the ground. In his hands was hooded black cloak with intricate stripes of dark orange running across the outside that made it look like it was on fire. On the very center of the back was the kanji for fox written in black inside a bright red whirlpool. The inside was lined with some kind of red fur that felt smoother than silk and ran all along that back and down the sleeves. And along the trim was some kind of puffy orange fur.

Holding it in his hands Naruto felt that the cloak was oddly warm for something that had likely been outside all night in that rain storm but decided it was better to pay that no mind.

Naruto looked at the cloak with hungry eyes and quickly looked around to see if there was anyone nearby before he balled up the cloak and ran as fast as he could back to his apartment.

Naruto was so happy he didn't even notice all the usual people sending him dirty looks or calling him names and when he finally made it home he locked his door and closed his blinds making sure no one could see before he went to his mirror and tried on his cloak.

He was surprised to find that the fit had been perfect, almost like it was made for him. When he turned around he saw that the length was perfect as well, going down to his ankles without touching the floor which made him wonder why a child would have a piece of clothing so nice.

Which led to the unpleasant question of where the cloak had come from? Naruto was sure that it had to belong to someone wealthy, the craftsmanship was too great to be something an average person could afford and the fact that it was made for a child only reinforced the point. He knew that if he took the cloak and kept and then some rich person found out he would be in really big trouble for stealing and knowing the way folks were he might not survive their punishment.

Despite how much he wanted to keep it Naruto decided that he would go ask the old man if any rich people had asked about a missing cloak. As he was about to take it off he decided that if he wore it then he might be able to find who it belonged to faster so instead of balling it up again he simply headed for the Hokage's tower.

It seemed to still be early in the morning morning, judging from the sun, and the villagers were busy cleaning up all the trash from last night's festivities, though they made sure to make enough time to send him evil glares and dirty looks. Unlike most days however Naruto didn't shy away from their looks and instead held his head high as he continued his journey.

His ears however were not deaf to the quickly spreading whispers about the cloak adorning his shoulders ranging from 'where did that runt steal that' to 'how dare he wear something like that'. Hearing this Naruto quickened his pace slightly and before he knew it he was at the Hokage's tower.

Inside the front waiting area he saw a secretary behind a tall circular desk looking over a large stack of papers. As Naruto approach he stood on his tiptoes and pulled himself up until his elbows were on the desk.

The man filing papers looked up and was met with the cheery grin of one Naruto Uzumaki, a regular here and one of the few who was allowed to speak to the Hokage without an appointment "Excuse me Mister, can I see old man Sarutobi"

He sighed and pointed to a door to his right "Yes Naruto you may go see him but only if you hurry, he has a meeting with some Uchihas in ten."

"Arigato Mister." Naruto said as he jumped down and went up the stairs to Sarutobi's office.

Inside Sarutobi had been going over finance reports and mission info, like he always did at this time of day, and was a little bit surprised to see Naruto come in wearing an interesting cloak, but then worried by the look on the boy's face. "Naruto my boy what brings you here?"

Naruto walked up to Sarutobi's desk before he took off his cloak and folded it up before placing it on the desk. "I found this this morning and wanted to know if anybody was looking for it. I figured that if any rich money-types were to lose something you would be the first person they come to, so here I guess." The boy said sadly before he turned and began to walk out.

"Naruto wait a moment would you." Sarutobi said as he looked at the cloak curiously "come have a seat my boy and tell me more about where you came to possess this."

Naruto turned around and walked over to the large chair across from the Hokage "It's like I said old man I found this cloak and judging by it, it probably belongs to some rich types whose kid can't keep track of his stuff." Naruto said casually.

"And where pray tell did you find this cloak Naruto was it simply lying on the ground somewhere?" Sarutobi said as he let out a puff from his pipe.

"Well ya I uh… was walking down the street when I saw it on the ground and decided to pick it up." Naruto said evasively before he shrugged "Guess some little clan heir must of lost during the festival last night."

Sarutobi eyed Naruto dangerously "Naruto you are aware that there are _severe _penalties for lying to one's Hokage aren't you? I would prefer it if you simply tell me the truth and be done with it."

Naruto looked at the Hokage for a moment before he finally decided that there was no point in lying to the old man any further. "All right Sarutobi you got me" he said before turning his head and pouting "when I woke up this morning I was wrapped up in it. There, are you happy now?"

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at this "Why on earth would someone break into your apartment just to give you some gift?"

Naruto laughed before rubbing the back of his neck "Well you see old man funny story about that, I didn't exactly wake up in my house this morning. I kind of came to in an alley way on the east side of town."

The Hokage suddenly stood up and slammed his hands on his desk "Dammit Naruto what have I told you about not going outside unless you need to, especially on _that _day. You know what the villagers are going to do. Why do you insist on trying your luck?"

Naruto immediately cringed away from his voice and began looked down at his feet as the swung lightly from the chair "I wanted to go get myself a toy." Naruto said with a sorrowful tone in his voice "But then I got distracted by the lights and the fireworks and before I knew it I had gotten beaned with a bottle and like twenty guys were chasing me. Then I tripped and fell and got beat till I passed out and then I woke up and found the cloak." Naruto let out a sad sigh "I'm real sorry I messed up again old man I promise I won't go outside as much anymore and I'll try not to get hurt so much." He said defeated before he hopped out of the chair and went to leave the room

Sarutobi looked at the boy in before him and felt a little sliver of his heart die 'Minato, Kushina you two would be so ashamed of us'. He let out a sigh before sitting back down "Naruto wait, come over here and sit down would you."

Naruto turned around and was about to hop on the chair again before Sarutobi shook his head and patted his lap signaling Naruto to sit. Naruto walked around the desk and climbed into Sarutobi's lap as he put his head on his chest Sarutobi gently rubbed his hair "Naruto I'm sorry I got mad like that I shouldn't have raised my voice at you, but all I want is for you to be safe and… the villagers… they aren't the friendliest bunch of people and I simply don't want you to get hurt."

Naruto looked up at him with cold, knowing eyes "I know that isn't true, I've seen them when they think I'm not around. As soon as I'm gone everyone is happy and nice but around me it all changes. I'm not too stupid to understand that I did something wrong to make everyone hate me, I just don't know what I did is all." Naruto said burying his face back into Sarutobi's chest as he let a small tear slip out.

Sarutobi looked down at the sad little child sitting in his lap and started wracking his brain for ways to make Naruto feel better when the door to his office opened and Fugaku Uchiha walked in with his youngest son Sasuke. "Wait here for a moment Naruto this won't take very long" he said as Naruto got down and stood at Sarutobi's side.

Fugaku eyed the child with a distinct amount of distain as he walked forward with his son at his side before he took his seat. "Sarutobi I wasn't aware that my meeting had been rescheduled to make time for Uzumaki. If you wish I can return later." He said looking over as Naruto squirmed under the scrutiny

Sensing Naruto's discomfort Sarutobi quickly devised a way to perhaps make him feel better "Nonsense Fugaku, I was simply talking to Naruto about a rather noble good deed he had just performed." he said smiling as Fugaku raised an eyebrow.

"And what, might I ask, was this good deed?" Fugaku asked looking quizzically at the boy next to the Hokage who merely stared at the floor.

The hokage reach across the table and held up the cloak that Naruto had brought in earlier allowing the two Uchihas to see it "It seems Naruto came across this while out and about today and decided to do the honorable thing and bring it to me in case someone lost it and comes looking."

Fugaku could see the way the Naruto was eyeing the cloak and decided that he at least owed him for interrupting his meeting. "Why Sasuke that looks an awful lot like the cloak you lost last night doesn't it?" he said shooting his son a quick glance.

Sasuke looked at his father questioningly for a moment before he decided to play along. "Yes father I do believe that is the one I lost." He said gently taking it from the Hokage's grip before he slipped it on "oh yes this is certainly the one I lost. Thank you for retrieving it for me, Uzumaki."Sasuke said smiling a fake smile as he watched Naruto bit his lip.

Naruto felt himself begin to draw blood as he squeezed every word out of his throat "You're…very welcome Uchiha-san…I'm happy to help."

Smiling, Fugaku looked back at Sarutobi before he signaled his son to wait outside. "Naruto you should wait outside with my son until we're done in hear, alright." He said as Naruto walked towards the door "oh and thanks again for finding my son's cloak it was very noble of you."

Naruto used every last ounce of self-control he had to resist slamming the door shut because he knew that it would have made Sarutobi look bad.

On the other side of the door he came face to face with the boy that had just stolen his cloak from him in one of the most underhanded way possible.

The Uchiha smiled as he saw the way Naruto was eyeing him "One of the advantages of a strong family is the wonderful reputation it grants you. It lets you get or do almost anything you want. But you wouldn't know what that's like would you Uzumaki."

Naruto looked at him with barley contained rage. "That cloak isn't yours is it, you and your father just lied because your clan heads and you knew you could get away with it."

"So what if we did lie? Part of being in a clan is being able to exercise your political power." Sasuke said before waving his hand dismissively" You wouldn't understand though Naruto, I mean your own parents didn't even love you enough to give you a home let alone a real clan. Even if they did care for you they were probably dirt poor…" Sasuke couldn't finish before a fist connected with his nose and sent him spiraling to the floor like a rag doll.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS LIKE THAT YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT" Naruto screamed as loud as he could alerting the entire floor of what had happened.

Almost immediately the Hokage and Fugaku came out of his office and assessed the situation. On the ground Sasuke Uchiha was clutching his nose as blood came pouring out of it and standing over him was a fuming Naruto with his right fist covered in blood. Needless to say it did not look good for Naruto and it only got worse when Sasuke pulled out the pity card.

"Father that psychopath tried to steal my cloak, and when I told him no he punched me in the face when I wasn't expecting it." Sasuke fake whined, knowing full well that the crowd of onlookers was listening intently.

Fugaku smiled at his son's tactfulness briefly before he donned the mask of an irate parent and turning to the Hokage "Hokage-sama I demand that this child pay reparations for the damage unjustly done to my son! The medical costs of setting Sasuke's nose alone must be at least 10,000 ryo and I refuse to pay them while the culprit gets away scot free."

Sarutobi eyed the man before him with a fierce amount of rage in his eyes 'bad enough that you steal that child's gift, now you insult his family and blame him for responding'. He wanted to make them return the cloak and kick them to the curb but he knew politics far too well and understood he was being watched. With a sad sigh he turned to Naruto and steeled himself for what he was about to do "Naruto Uzumaki for the assault of Sasuke Uchiha I hereby order you to pay reparations in the amount of 10,000 ryo to the afflicted party. If this sum cannot be met than trades can be made pay off the debt." He declared with a stern and commanding voice not betraying the pain he felt at reprimanding the child.

Naruto looked up at Sarutobi completely speechless hoping everything he had just said was a dream. But as he looked up into the Hokage's eyes and into the faces of everyone watching he knew that this was really happening.

'No this can't be happening, old man Sarutobi can't be siding with them, this can't be happening' Naruto thought frantically

Naruto angrily bit his tongue until a small trickle of blood seeped out of his lips and his body began to shake slightly before something inside him snapped and stared back up at the Hokage with dull expressionless eyes "Of course Hokage-sama please forgive me for my actions I will pay for all the damages." He said in an eerily toneless voice before he turned to the two Uchihas "I am deeply sorry for my sudden outburst Uchiha-samas and I hope to correct it as best I can."

Fugaku and Sarutobi looked down at the boy with different emotions. Fugaku smiled to himself at the runt's sudden change of demeanor and almost reconsidered repossessing his belongings while Sarutobi looked shell-shocked by the way Naruto was acting.

Fugaku stood up and brushed himself and Sasuke off as he made his way to the exit "Very well Uzumaki. I'll send over some appraisers from my clan this afternoon and we'll see if we can't get your debt squared away. Come along Sasuke we need to get you nose looked at." He said as he stepped down the stairs "oh and Hokage-sama don't forget the discussion we had, I'll be back for your answer another time."

Sarutobi looked down at Naruto's face and then turned to the crowd that had somehow managed to gather around them "alright that's enough, there's nothing to see here anymore, get back to your duties." He said eyeing the crowd as they scattered down the halls. "Naruto I need to speak to you for another moment in my office if you would."

Naruto walked forward without meeting the Hokage's eyes as he opend the door for the elder shinobi "Of course Hokage-sama whatever you ask."

Sarutobi winced slightly at the way Naruto addressed him. Gone was 'old man Sarutobi' and 'sarutobi-san' to be replaced with the cold icy 'Hokage-sama'. "Yes Naruto please come in and have a seat my boy" Sarutobi said as he patted his knee for Naruto to hop up.

Naruto looked at Sarutobi with a newfound level of cautiousness and decided he would be better off standing. "If it is all right with you Hokage-sama I would feel more comfortable standing." Naruto stated coldly as he stood in front of the Hokage's desk.

Sarutobi let a ring of smoke puff out of his pipe as he looked at Naruto mournfully while trying to think of a way to improve the young boy's mood "Naruto you know why I had to do what I did don't you?"

"Of course I do Hokage-sama" Naruto said as Sarutobi relaxed a little "you did it because I had almost forgotten that _everyone _hates me. I should have known better than to act out against someone since I should know that no matter what I'll always be the bad guy. I thank you for reminding me that, now if you'll excuse me I need to get my apartment ready to be disassembled when those Uchiha get there."

Sarutobi looked on sorrowfully as his mind began to frantically search for any way to cheer the young man up only for it to come up with blank after blank before the sound of the door closing echoed through the now lonely office leaving him to wonder what exactly he had just done.

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AN: if you like the story them please review it and despite this going against what I stand for even just a simple "cool story" or "nice job" would be beneficial.

This is because people use review levels to tell how much a story is worth reading and very rarely read a 5k+ word story with only one review.

Now then again that may be because my summary sucked but that aside reviews help a lot.

Don't get me wrong favs and alerts are nice and a fine alternative if you're in a hurry, but sadly those hold the same level of respect as a review.

I won't lie; I'd like to think I only do this for the sake of writing but I do this to tell a story to _other _people and let's be honest if no one reads it then… hell I'm just here typing this for no real reason. I might as well just leave it as a document on Microsoft word and never share it but frankly that seems kind of depressing to me.

Now then coming full circle please review about absolutely anything you wish. Any questions, comments, concerns all that good stuff.

Rebel don out


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